Between the magnetism of their phones and a kaleidoscope of lived experiences, students increasingly ingest, internalize, and order their worlds. Their bandwidths for consumption seemingly uptick with each swipe and download. But within their increasingly digital landscape, it is vital to help students build stamina for awareness and reflection on their lived experiences. With the Maps of Affluence assignment, I encourage students to use perception as a tool in understanding both abstract and tangible concepts.
The Assignment
Appropriate for students 9th grade and older, the Maps of Affluence assignment asks students to take a closer look at areas designated as 'affluent' or 'wealthy.' For the first step of the assignment, students respond to the writing prompt:
- How did I learn about affluence and wealth?
- What are the rules of affluence and wealth?
- What are the actual markers that tell me I am inhabiting, visiting, or observing domains of affluence?
Next, students select two to three blocks designated as 'affluent' or 'wealthy' in an urban or suburban area. Students are then asked to observe, note, and draw the physical, architectural, structural, behavioral, and habitual indicators of affluence of places they can visit in real life, virtually, or through memory.
After the perfunctory questions about due dates, a student will invariably ask " … So you want us to draw or sketch what exactly?" I do not answer that question immediately. Instead, I ask students to reread their written responses to the initial writing prompt. If they are still unsure how to proceed afterwards, I explain, "I want you to make concrete the abstract and internalized mapping that is often uninterrogated but deeply orients our thoughts about spaces. The focus of the assignment is to consider how the land and architecture send messages of wealth and affluence."
I ask students to construct new thinking about landscape choices, bridges, municipal and private use of lighting, train lines, storefront signage, water access, green space, street directions, proximity to reliable public transportation, advanced intercom systems, and so many other seemingly trivial constructs and behaviors whose prevalence may cue an individual's awareness to wealth.
In the third step of the assignment, students present their maps as a primary source document to their peers and some members of the faculty and staff. Presenting this student-generated, primary source opens a dialogue and allows students to begin to name social phenomena that are often hidden in plain sight. Finally, students write or create a reflection in which they capture how the class assignment and presentations have influenced their ability to observe how affluence is presented and staged in physical surroundings.
RESULTS
The results of the assignment are always compelling and revelatory. By incorporating mixed genres—writing, drawing, speaking, thinking, and reflecting—the assignment is based on what the student chooses to see and how they assess and interpret those objects.
Students have noticed the stark differences between locations with intergenerational, inherited wealth (a.k.a. old money) and emerging financial wealth (new money), and many categorizations beyond. Students have analyzed how old and new money present and are practiced according to racial, ethnic, and immigrant identities, and some students openly reveal the messaging received from their parents about wealth and affluence, regardless of their own economic position.
Most resonant, though, is what I call the "stamina of the spectacle." Often, those who are affluent survey and heavily veil their surroundings, adding layers and barriers to interrupt access to those who are not wealthy. From the use of state-backed and state-enforced parking permits, to private doormen, to the positioning of police, to the public/private school locations; the affluent are vigilantly committed to marking their territory. Quite often, they are incentivized to deeply regulate who has access to their space, neighborhoods, and quarters.
For many students, this assignment provides an opportunity to look closely at how affluence and wealth are constructed and embedded within and on top of physical environments.
Rarely is there space to name how affluence is routinized and even staged. As part of a country committed to capitalism, observant students are aware of who has financial capital and who does not. While the gap between the financially wealthy and the financially depleted grows, however, this lesson provides a way for students to name this reality in its multiplicity.
These student-authored Maps of Affluence become transformative documents full of complexity, nuance, and abstraction. Such outcomes reveal how multi-genre, student-authored work can encompass and eclipse state-mandated standards. While documenting shifting landscapes and curating their own imagination, students build the stamina necessary to look, see, and observe with the intention to negotiate narratives. This type of abstract study can stimulate the mind, spark curiosity and a passion for learning, and combat the monotony of mechanized schooling.
